Sunday, January 21, 2007

Important Insights from the Herald-Sun

John Stevenson might have outdone himself in this morning's H-S. The article's headline: “N.Y. Law Firm Badger's DA's Faithful Aides.” Sounds terrible, on the surface.

Exactly what did the “N.Y. Law Firm” do? One of its partners, Anton Borovina, wrote two ADA's, Tracey Cline and Jim Dornfried, blasting Nifong and saying they should urge Nifong to resign. That's it.

A good reporter might have used the occasion--as Greta Van Susteren has been noting for several weeks--to explore whether ADA's had an ethical obligation to report Nifong to the State Bar as they witnessed first-hand his massive violations of legal ethics. Stevenson had no interest in this matter.

So, while Editor Bob Ashley continues to ignore any reporting on the two issues he promised a Duke October forum the paper would look into—the toxic atmosphere of the Trinity Park neighborhood and the improper actions of the Durham PD—he considers two ADA’s receiving a signed letter from another attorney to be news?

Meanwhile, a second Stevenson article serves as the opening argument of the keep-Nifong-free campaign, downplaying the possibility of either a civil suit or a criminal inquiry. The chief witness? NAACP “case monitor” Irving Joyner. (Stevenson does not mention that Joyner is NAACP “case monitor”and therefore effectively a party to the case.) Referring to the photo lineup, Joyner said, “You would expect the prosecutor to consult with the Police Department. That is a normal role and function of the district attorney. I haven't seen any facts that would suggest he crossed the line into some other role.”

In fact, that's not the normal role of a DA in North Carolina, as I discovered when I contacted a variety of DA's over the summer. Two refused to answer my questions about photo lineup procedures; of the remainder, this response was typical: “In North Carolina, DAs have little power to dictate to local law enforcement what investigative techniques should be used.”

Joyner’s comment, moreover, suggests that the new strategy of the “case monitor” will be to defend Nifong by denigrating other North Carolina district attorneys. Is the NCCU law professor really suggesting that it is the “normal role and function of the district attorney” to instruct police officers to violate their own procedures?

Finally, it appears that Joyner missed the revelations at the September and October hearings, where defense attorneys read police memos from the discovery file, stating that as of March 24—eight days into the inquiry—Nifong assumed personal command of the police investigation. Most people would consider this development to represent Nifong's having “crossed the line into some other role.”

Stevenson's article, unsurprisingly, did not mention these in-court revelations.

I don't believe the accuser ever intended to finger these three young men.

A drunk, drugged out sex worker, living on the margins of society, was about to go to jail. All she wanted to do was to keep out of jail. So she concocted a drunken story...to keep out of jail. She told that story numerous times, in numerous ways, to numerous people...to keep out of jail. And it worked. Sort of.

Twice she was shown picture lineups...and twice she denied that any of those people were involved. She wasn't trying to falsely accuse, merely trying to stay out of jail. It really wasn't in the young lady's interest to actually have to go to court and be proven a liar, so she just didn't identify....anyone.

But it was very much in someone else's interest for this case to go forward...so she wasn't given a choice. The third lineup was a forced choice test. It HAS to be one or more of these guys. Identify them, or you go to jail. So reluctantly, three identifications were made.

It wasn't the accuser who rewrote a police report from whole cloth in an attempt to explain away incongruities in the case FOUR MONTHS AFTER IT HAPPENED, it was a member of the Durham PD.

And I don't really think it was the accuser who came up with a story on Dec. 21 that attempted (albeit unsuccessfully) to explain away the excuse of one of the indicted while at the same time now setting him up for a plea bargain as an observer rather than a participant if he'd just sell out the other two. She really hasn't shown the capacity for that kind of scheming.

I think it's time for the feds to offer that plea-bargain to the accuser, to get her to answer some questions. Like who suborned perjury and how many members of the police department were there that conspired with Nifong and Meehan to deny these young men their constitutional rights. Who would have benefitted from this, had the charges stuck? The accuser? Hardly. The DA and the police? Most definitely.

Who had the means and the motivation? Not the accuser,she would have been happy to just not been incarcerated.

Just as disturbing, local television media continues to interview Joyner as a "monitor" of the case and typically has him on as a counterpoint to when they interview Coleman. Outrageous that they ignore Joyner's connection to the agenda driven NAACP.

"Assistant Durham prosecutors contacted by The Herald-Sun on Friday said they ignored Borovina's message.

"I threw it in the trash," said Jim Dornfried.

Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline said she did the same."

If so, the letters tossed in the trash, how did Mr. Stevenson end up with them? What did they do ignore the letter and toss them, or deliver them to Mr. Stephenson. It can't be both can it? Only in Wonderland...

Ah there it, the closing sentence. I'm somewhat surprised it wasn't the lead. This one sentence discloses all this is important to these knuckleheads. As mentioned elsewhere they have become the middle-aged white, male bigot a characature that they invented.

Again I ask, isn't it the job of the prosecutor to decide if there is enough evidence that a crime was committed and if so, bring that to a jury? If so, what is taking so long for the new prosecutor to job all charges?

I don't believe the accuser ever intended to finger these three young men.

Perhaps that argument could have been made initially, however, our Precious Mangum had a solid gold opportunity to back out of the case just last month when Nifong told her how "brutal" the trial was going to be.

After thinking about it for a few days, she called him back and decided to go FORWARD with her criminal false accusations.

To 10:41. How are you going to argue that the accuser was forced to proceed with the case when she did not want to, considering Nifong has recused himself, but the woman still wanted to proceed with the new team of prosecutors (according to Duff's article)?

One does not write "He goe's to the store" but rather "He goes to the store." No apostrophe with a verb in the third person singular is the general rule.Main use of an apostrophe is to indicate a noun in the possessive case: "badger's" indicates something belonging to a capitalistically inclined species of weasel, not the act of annoying someone.

10:57 is spot on the mark. How did the Herald-Sun reporter get these letters? It doesn't appear the N.Y. attorney sent the paper a copy. They had to come from Nifong's office. I'm not accustomed to making civil rights analogies, but in the 1960s, segregationists rallied local opinion in the South by railing against "outside agitators and troublemakers" from the North. How ironic to see that identical tactic now being used by Nifong.

I believe you are about 80% right. This bimbo (to be polite about her) made up a lie to get herself out of the drunk tank. It may have been a trick she worked before (no pun intended.)

Then Nifong and the "community" and the self-annointed "people of conscience" got to work. The bimbo was caught in her own trap, terrified of what all these people would do to her (prosecute her for false arrest, call her race or gender traitor, etc, etc.)

This is not an excuse; she is a criminal (assuming she is not insane.) But Nifong, the Gang of 88, the Rump of 87, etc. are not insane. Does any sensible person credit that her booze and drug addled mind was able to build that cockamamie theory of the case proposed in December. We need to keep in mind who the SERIOUS criminals, eg Nifong and Meehan, are here.

JeffM

PS And, no, I am not implying that the Gang of 88 are all criminals, just a set of despicable people who have grossly misused the intelligence, education, and position granted them by fortune to contribute to the ruin of innocent lives.

In his comments about the late disclosure of the complete DNA results, Professor Joyner is confusing 3 separate considerations.

For purposes of determining whether a conviction should be reversed for late disclosure, he is correct. Generally, a defendant must show prejudice to merit a reversal on this basis.

As for ethics purposes, no showing must be made that the defendant was prejudiced by the late disclosure. Rather, an important consideration is the intent of the prosecutor. Here, I suspect, Mr. Nifong's reason for non-disclosure was so he could bring the charges and, then, try and keep afloat a sinking ship.

For purposes of establishing a civil rights claim in federal court, the late disclosure might not itself be the basis of a claim unless it can be shown that the hiding of results enabled Mr. Nifong to charge one or more of the defendants. I am fuzzy on the early chronology of this matter. However, Mr. Nifong's DNA misbehavior, taken with his other improper actions, establish his intent to violate the civil rights of the defendants.

Joyner has been misleading from the beginning. Furthermore, he has been the advocate for procedures that he surely knows would mean wrongful convictions for black males in the future. In other words, Joyner is so motivated by racial hatred that he is willing to have blacks imprisoned wrongfully just so he can enjoy a wrongful conviction of white Duke students.

Does anyone realize the kind of hatred the man must have in order to want these things to occur? Look at his role -- and the role that John Stevenson and the Hurled-Scum have played in enabling him.

The ultimate irony is that Irving Joyner, a law professor, uses his position to push abuse of the law and wrongful imprisonment. That an example!

Are you saying that Joyner does not think these particular Defendants can argue a viable 42 USC 1983 action in Federal Court?

Are you kidding me? You take all the actors, and you place their actions agsinst the Fourth. Fifth, Sixth, Eight and Fourteenth Amendments, and you have an excellent case against the individuals and Durham, certainly stronger than the cases I see on a daily basis.

Joyner focuses his attention just on the DNA results. He simply forgets that the claim begins during the investigation, proceeds through collection of evidence, includes the line-up which violates policies and procedures (hello Monell Claim), gets to Brady, and finishes with dismissal.

Yes, they have a case, a very serious case, one that can survive dismissal in the Fourth, and a case where the Federal Judge will have zero sympathy for the police or the prosecution. Nifong, the "lead investigator." What was he thinking switching to a law enforcement role?

Also, and obviously, they can bring a claim for malicious prosecution at the same time in Federal Court. Alternative pleadings appears to be a foreign concept in the world of Nifong enablers.

I kind of get of the feeling the Durham ADAs may have never been allowed to see the case file and therefore may not know enough to turn Nifong in.

It was Nifong that insisted in prosecuting the case instead of handing it off to an ADA like every other case the county has prosecuted. Remember, this is Mike's first case in over 10 years! Why? He had to take it in order to hide it from the ADAs who are probably much smarter than he is. Had he let them see the casefile, they would have to choose between being crooked or getting disbarred. I just do not see Nifong getting that many sheep to obey him or him risking showing his hand to a sheep that then go peep to the bar behind his back. If Mike did not trust his ADAs to prosecute a phony case, why would he trust them to not turn him in for doing it himself? I just think he kept the casefile locked in his office and no ADAs have ever seen it.

12:29pm said,I'm not accustomed to making civil rights analogies, but in the 1960s, segregationists rallied local opinion in the South by railing against "outside agitators and troublemakers" from the North. How ironic to see that identical tactic now being used by Nifong.

You mean like this?

Miss Pamela Martin79 East Beech StreetCedar Springs, Michigan

Dear Miss Martin: This will acknowledge and thank you for your letter of April 8, 1964, in which you request literature on the subject of segregation in the South. We have no material on this subject in our office. As a matter of fact, we have never had a problem here in the South except in a very few isolated instances and these have been the result of outside agitators."~snip~I am Sincerely yours,George C. Wallace Governor

It seems to me that this is exactly the sort of behavior that any legitimate AAAS studies department should investigate; just what is going on here and why? It is my belief that this is deliberate manipulation that is harmful to nearly everyone, specifically including any who are misled by this drivel. There is an audience who this is playing to.

Sadly, there are people who are going to believe everything is a giant conspiracy the other way -- that there was a racially motivated gang rape and everything since is part of a cover up. However, the author clearly can’t believe this. Why is the coverage from certain quarters so slanted, no matter how divorced from reality?

These "news" stories are so biased to enable these beliefs, at least sewing doubt, in members of the target audience. In my opinion, this is part of a deliberate attempt to increase group cohesion and separation to maintain a block of votes that can be leveraged for personal gain and political power. It is an abuse and it harms those who believe.

It is still in Nofing's interest for some charges to at least get to trial -- it is helpful to his defense. A conviction on anything takes away one of the required elements for a malicious prosecution charge and mitigates any civil damages. The interests of these other enablers are aligned with his interests and they are willing to do nearly anything to further this charade; rather than admit defeat, they have shown that they will keep spinning, well beyond the point of absurdity. Any political pressure they can create will influence the end game. I hate to call all this a game, but the term fits.

Consider that CGM probably does not seem to have a lawyer – her legal advice has probably come from the DA. She has been under his control for a very long time and it would look bad for him if he were to claim she was unwilling to drop her allegations for months and she were to do exactly this at the first opportunity, once she spoke with someone else. He has no credibility and his claims to have only met with her infrequently and on the record leave me incredulous.

He knows how the system works and has had months of opportunity and monumental motivation to try to twist things to play out to his advantage. Seeing who is willing to go so far to back him up and cover for him and how deep this goes is uniquely revealing. Try to discern the motivations when people do not seem to act rationally – most often, they are acting rationally, just under a set of conditions that isn’t apparent. How is it that there are those who are still doing so much to distort things?

I think if all the connections, motivations, and machinations were really out in the open, it would expose just how badly broken things can be. Many, many people have reason to help keep things hidden and have this play out in such a way as to allow them to claim victory or maintain their version of events. Don’t be surprised at how far some are willing to go. If things go to a certain point in the light of day, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they may go further still, hidden in the dark.

"You know, I imagine that some individuals would rather not have CGM talking anymore about this case.

They would probably prefer that she take a little too much alcohol with her flexeril or have an accident on the freeway."

Don't even kid about it. If Precious even slips in the bathtub, every conspiracy whacko in the universe will be on it. The NAACP will blame the Dookies, the Dukes will blame the DPD/DA, and the LAX3 will never be *quite* clear.

While I understand other newspapers, particularly the NYTimes and N&O have a bit of a glass house problem...I don't understand why N&O at least would not try and steal circulation from them by running a few articles on Herald-Sun's performance. Biased, sloppy reporting. Misleading the black community, alienating the white on the non-rape. Being in Nifongs pocket. Making Durham a bigger laughingstock than it already was.

Bob Ashley did a disgracefully bad job. Paxton Communications should look for a new management team at HS and discard some of the crap journalists they retained and rehire some of the good ones they let go.

Re the comments about the FA not having the calculated intent to harm in this case --she may be nuts, but not sufficiently nuts not to have likely Googled the team in the time before being first "interviewed" and coincidentally coming up with a couple of very deep pockets. Score another missed opportunity to get to the bottom of the hoax, as the DA does not seem to have looked at the FA's computer to see if such a search was done in the interim. For all the talk about privilege, I find it interesting that none of the kids on the team who are from working class families (e.g. have a parent who's a fireman, etc.) were magically selected. After all, it didn't seem to matter that the physical descriptions she provided had no resemblance at all to the 3 kids she picked.

The arrogance displayed in this case, implying that the public is collectively so stupid as to have failed to have noticed all the procedural irregularities and blatant misconduct in this case, is maddening. The only thing more maddening is the fact that a sufficient number of the public was in fact stupid enough to fall for it so that this madness is still ongoing!

At this point all you can do is laugh at the Herald-Sun. They are comical. They make it sound as though ADAs in Nifong's office are under siege and are being harassed 24-7 by monstrous Yankees. Perhaps the ADAs should take out restraining orders to protect themselves from further attack from the North.

But never fear!! The ADAs will be loyal to Nifong. They will fight for him to the end. Yes, to the very end!!!

Does anyone know if the Feb. 5 hearing has been postponed. My guess is that it will, but it should not, as the desire to bring the new prosecutors up to speed really shouldn't be the defendants' problem.

I follow the NFL and college football closely. As a "helmet sport" that is derided by most if not all of the G88/87, it's interesting to note the absence of racism in both the pros and the hundreds of college programs across the U.S.

With the lead, as of the time of this comment, Da Bears have in the fourth quarter, it's quite possible that, coupled with a Colts victory later this evening, the two head coaches in the Super Bowl will be black.

I am also struck that many black and white players constantly refer, when interviewed, to the deep bonds they've forged with others of a different race, while never making a point of race. It simply does not matter.

This meritocracy, where both black and white head coaches are fired not because of the color of their skin, but by clearly defined criteria (wins/losses/progress) is in stark contrast to what I've seen in the academy.

It's too mindboggling to even read the lies and garbage being spewed by the HS and other local media outlets anymore. Seems like the whole state, including the justice system and Duke University is rotten with lying scoundrels. Now the assistant DAs seem to think it's Ok to not report a dirty prosecutor. "Ethics we ain't got no ethics , we just done tore up those stupid letters and threw them away". Funny how common sense still trumps higher education.

In reading the Jon Sanders column, I am reminded again that campus activists are constantly looking for their Reichstag Fire. How many times have we seen hoaxes in which the faculty, students, and other assorted potbangers react to a hoax as though it were true?

If you watch the potbangers video, they do not ALLEGE there was a rape; no, they KNEW there was a rape. They went to Peter Lange's house and did the requisite noisemaking there, demanding that he do everything but have the lacrosse team hanged, drawn, and quartered.

When he said there needed to be an investigation, he was shouted down by Sam Hummel and company. No, that was not what the potbangers wanted to hear, since they already possessed ALL of the requisite knowledge.

You see, people like this WANT to be fooled by hoaxes because they are so damned self-righteous that no one every is permitted to challenge them when they are setting their little Reichstag Fires.

Unfortunately for Sam, it seems that he put those wanted posters on campus and used a copy machine at Duke. Bad news for Duke, and bad news for Sam. My hope is that he and Duke are burned for this latest little Reichstager. Yes, Adolph Hitler would have been proud of little self-righteous Sammy Boy.

"A shrill, grating voice rang out. The yelling was not in chorus. Each took a turn and at the end of each the crowd broke into howls and roars and whistles of applause. This is what they had come to see and hear.No newspaper had printed the words these women shouted. It was indicated that they were indelicate, some even said obscene. On television the sound track was made to blur or had crowd noises cut in to cover. But now I heard the words, bestial and filthy and degenerate. In a long and unprotected life I have seen and heard the vomitings of demoniac humans before. Why then did these screams fill me with a shocked and sickened sorrow?[...]My body churned with weary nausea, but I could not let an illness blind me after I had come so far to look and to hear. And suddely I knew something was wrong and distorted and out of drawing."

Is the above a common sense description of the Potbangers rally? No, but it could be. It is John Steinbeck's description of "The Cheerleaders" in his book 'Travels With Charlie'.

"I am also struck that many black and white players constantly refer, when interviewed, to the deep bonds they've forged with others of a different race, while never making a point of race. It simply does not matter."

Then why are is it important that one and maybe two coaches are black? I say that somewhat in jest as it is a milestone...I mean how in the world could a black coach make it in the oppressed, racist world in which we live?

" Sometimes the worst evil is done by good people who do not know that they are not good." Reinhold Niebuhr

Every time I read this quote I think of the Sam Hummells of the world. I don't know anyone who isn't against racism, sexism and sexual violence in this world but somehow the potbangers and other agenda driven fanatics are so warped that they end up causing more damage than good. By embracing CGM's false accusation they have truly set back their cause and in the future real sexual assault victims will have a much harder time coming forward.

Screamin' Sam is not someone who is "fighting racism." Screamin' Sam is someone who is full of hate for peope who do not think like he does. Unfortunately, this time the boy stepped in it a bit too deep, and I hope he pays dearly.

This was a situation that called for integrity on the part of the players, and from what I can see, Peter Lange had integrity, a few of the Duke faculty had integrity, the blogosphere had integrity, and the lacrosse players -- yes, the lacrosse players -- had integrity.

Unfortunately, the people whose actions made this a criminal case were people who had no integrity at all. Who are they?

1. Michael Nifong and the rest of the DA staff -- Ashley Cannon and her companions;2. The Durham PD. Apparently, we are dealing with a police department that is full of peope who either are liars or cowards. Here, we really do see the "Blue Wall of Silence;"3. The Duke administration and much of the Duke faculty. Enough said about them;4. The NAACP and other "civil liberties" groups like the ACLU and the Innocence Project. (Remember, it was Peter Neufeld, an IP founder, who insisted that DNA did not matter in the Duke case, thus enabling the criminal indictments.) These organizations all were dishonest or cowardly to the core, and I will never trust any of them again.5. The mainstream and the black press. Enough said about these people who took dishonesty to new heights.

So, we have the Honor and Dishonor rolls of the Duke case. By the way, I also include K.C. among those with integrity, something that his fellow historians at Duke seem to lack in spades.

"Screamin' Sam is not someone who is "fighting racism." Screamin' Sam is someone who is full of hate for peope who do not think like he does. Unfortunately, this time the boy stepped in it a bit too deep, and I hope he pays dearly."

As I have posted before - I know the Hummels's, Anne is from OLD money and they think they are Greensboro's annointed. I think someone needs to ask Sam Jr. how he can live with the fact that his parents chose to shelter him from the cruelties of integration by sending him to The Greensboro Day School K-12. The Greensboro Day School was started shortley after integration and busing hit Greensboro. Why? Well, I know some of the founders and apparently, they did not want their children to have to attend school with African Americans. I see this a a major hypocrisy on Sam's part. It seems he has spent most of his life avoiding hands on race relations. I am sure he has never, EVER encountered the likes of CGM. I think before the affluent, sheltered paragons of society, like Sam Hummel Jr, sound off with their pots, they should walk the walk. I can also assure you that his family would be defending him with all their money, with the same vigor as the Evans and Finnerty's and Seligman's - if the shoe was somehow on his foot, self righteously, I might add.

People like Sam Hummel are despicable twits. I have no time for them and their self-righteous ilk. But Sam has no problem telling the rest of us how to live and how to think.

Of course, here is a person whose mommy has to tell him what to do, but Sam still believes he is Truly Anointed to give life's instructions to everyone else. This time, however, he messed with the wrong people.

The reason a federal probe is so important is that without one I don't think we'll know the full extent of the hoax and the responsibilities of people like Sgt. Gottlieb and the ADAs.If the charges are dropped and Nifong is sanctioned then there may be no investigation of wrong-doing by others.

My guess is that Greensboro Day School is a lot like the school I went to, Baylor School in Chattanooga. When I was there from 1965-71, it was a military school and racist as heck. (I never liked that aspect of it, but it was Old Money and we had a number of dorm boys from Old Money in Alabama and Mississippi, and the racism was quite fierce.)

Today, Baylor is preppy and absolutely PC. I imagine the school is full of the Sam Hummels who do not have many real connections with black people. Yet, the Sam Hummels know everything about race, rape, and oppression, and because of their upbringing, they are vastly superior both morally and intellectually to the rest of us who don't earn the megabucks and who live in integrated neighborhoods.

I don't have that much contact with my old school anymore. I don't make enough to give the Big Contributions to the school, and I am not Politically Correct enough to be seen as anyone who ever could make an intellectual contribution to the place.

Here is Sam's response to a request for information on the relationship between racism and rape. I would suggest it's propaganda what do others think. It's tough to say what Sam thinks because he is now censoring the Durham responds listserve I copied it from.

A member of this list has requested that information be provided aboutthe connection between racism and rape. Below is a piece written onthe subject by the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV).

"Racism and Rape"A Policy Statement by NAESV

The history of rape in the United States is a history of racism andsexism intertwined. Rape was an important tool in white colonists'violent efforts to repress Native nations. During slavery, both whiteand black men raped black women with impunity. After the Civil War andduring Reconstruction, white mobs lynched numerous black men based ontrumped up charges of sexual assault of white women, and the specterof lynching terrorized the black community.

Popular media in this country continue to perpetuate racialstereotypes, particularly about women of color. Portraying black womenand Latinas as promiscuous, American Indian and Asian women assubmissive, and all women of color as inferior legitimates theirsexual abuse. Portraying men of color as sexually voracious andpreying on innocent white women reinforces a cultural obsession withblack-on-white stranger rape, at the expense of the vastly more commonintra-racial acquaintance rape.

Although the data is limited, many women of color appear to be atgreatest risk for rape. A nationally representative survey indicatesthat while almost 18% of white women and 7% of Asian/Pacific Islanderwomen will be raped in their lifetimes, almost 19% of black women, 24%of mixed race women, and 34% of American Indian and Alaska Nativewomen will be raped during their lifetimes. Additionally, undocumentedimmigrant women who are raped often cannot turn to the authoritiesbecause they fear deportation. Moreover, they often lacklinguistically appropriate and culturally relevant victim serviceswithin their communities.

We at the NAESV know that only by aggressively addressing both racismand sexism will women of color and white women be able to obtain realjustice for the sexual crimes we suffer. To that end, we call oneveryone, particularly creative people working within popular media,to reject and subvert racial and sexual stereotypes. We call on thepress to cover more intra-racial acquaintance rape as a serious socialand public health crime.

We must also take responsibility within our own ranks. We call onanti-rape organizations and allied activists to work actively to endracism. We must not use or perpetuate racial stereotypes in working toend violence against women. We also call on anti-racism organizationsand allied activists to work actively to end sexism and sexualviolence. We must not use or perpetuate sexual stereotypes in our workto end racial injustice.

Eventually a little light is going to go on in the accuser's head and she'll realize that the easier, surer way to some cabbage in her bank account is to stop taking rocks on the head alongside Nifong, and start hurling some at him herself.

Durham may not have pockets as deep as Duke, but Nifong is certainly beginning to look like an easier mark than Rae Evans.

Look for Precious to suddenly realize that Mike Nifong did solicit her to conspire in obstruction of justice by coaching her on how to accommodate her story to the new set of Dec 21 facts.

To Wayne Fontes,It's interesting that Hummell is posting information from NAESV. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the potbangers might be receiving federal VAWA funds to finance their misdeeds. It looks like NAESV is more into hating whites than ending sexual violence, although their webpage doesn't get into the racist aspect of their organization.

Brodhead sent a letter out to Alumni on Friday. We received it yesterday. He take about putting the Lacrosse case behind the school and then discussed all the positive current events at the school- teachers selected for this award and ect.

Unfortunately for Sam, it seems that he put those wanted posters on campus and used a copy machine at Duke. Bad news for Duke, and bad news for Sam. My hope is that he and Duke are burned for this latest little Reichstager. Yes, Adolph Hitler would have been proud of little self-righteous Sammy Boy.

I've had an internet account since 1987. That's the first time I've seen someone compared to Nazi's appropriately.

It is interesting. The Bryant case had real sexual contact, but the question was consent. I remember that we did not hear Cash Michaels complaining about the way that the accuser was treated in that case.

Now, I did not want Bryant jailed for rape, since the circumstances did not seem to warrant it. But apparently Cash believes that Kobe Bryant was entitled to a defense, but Reade, Collin, and David are not.

Hi Bill (7:04); of course, as you know, there are MANY more to add to that dishonor role list. Speaking of honor, I hope there are lots of good lawyers out therewilling to help the 3 families excoriate as many of them as possible.

The reference in this thread to Jon Sanders' column brought me to an interesting piece he wrote about a month ago. Coming around the time of Meehan's court appearance, Sanders' point may not have gotten the attention it deserved:

When it comes to phony rape accusations, Duke has been hoaxed twice before within recent memory.

In Spring 2002, a freshman had terrified the campus community... by alleging that she had been “beaten and sexually assaulted after being sprayed in the eyes with a liquid as she exited a stall in a Randolph Dormitory bathroom” (having been “blinded,” she could not identify her attacker). Women wrote to the Duke Chronicle of their fear of being on campus. Duke began offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the assailant before he attacked again.

In Fall 2004, there was another terrifying sexual assault. A woman said she had been attacked from behind while jogging near Duke Forest by a man who placed a cord around her neck. The campus was once again wracked by a “culture of fear” and “hysteria.”

Then the truth came out. The victim in 2004 was the same victim in 2002, and as her tale of the forest assault was revealed to be a hoax, investigators realized that that infamous assault of ‘02 had been a hoax, too.

--end excerpt--

See the linked post for links and quotes.

It's certainly a good thing that D.A. Nifong's on-campus enablers are so far beyond shame.

By the way, if you want to know why I am passionate about this issue, it is because I have been writing about prosecutorial abuse for many years. The Duke case is one of the worst I have seen, but I will say that prosecutors are proving to be a criminal class all by themselves.

I have seen friends carted off to prison, I have received many emails from lawyers who have seen their clients railroaded, and I have received letters and emails from people who either have been wrongly convicted or are in the system for no good reason.

If you had a sense at all of what evil prosecutors do on a regular basis, you would understand why I aim so many barbs at Nifong and the others. I really am sick of these criminals with law degrees literally kidnapping people and throwing them into prison, lying to judges and juries, and breaking the law with impunity, knowing that they are untouchable.

I want to see Nifong pay because so many of his partners-in-crime have not. May he and his ilk burn in hell.

"This is the stuff of which a claim for malicious prosecution is made. And one day, some court may become the first to accept a claim against those who through reckless or knowingly false public statements aid and abet a malicious prosecution. Perhaps the NAACP and those who join it in embracing the Stripper's Story should give that careful thought."

At my mainline Protestant church today we had a group of ex-convicts from Sing Sing do the Sunday service. This happens every year on this weekend. It is called "Peace and Justice Sunday." The ex-convicts have participated in, and most have graduated from, a theological program offered at Sing Sing.

I am not proselytizing. It's just that this is the first sermon I have ever heard (and likely the first one ever preached at our 100+ year old church) on the justice system under which we live, and a black ex-convict who had served 24 years in prison delivered the sermon.

A friend introduced the preacher with a poem the latter had written about his first trip to the Cadman Plaza courthouse on Court Street in Brooklyn after his release from all those years of incarceration. He entered the Plaza, looked up at the statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, and noted that it looked as if Moses intended to crack the tablets on his, or at least on someone's, head. Then, he entered the building for the first time in his life without handcuffs and shackles. Two women asked him if he was a lawyer. He was wearing a new blue suit. "No," he replied. And he turned and walked out through the same revolving door he came in.

The speaker, himself, then rose to deliver his sermon about the trial of Jesus. Not much had changed, as far as he could tell, in our system of justice since that momentous event. A friend, similar to those who turn state's evidence for a lighter sentence or probation, betrayed Jesus for forty pieces of silver--Judas, of course. Another friend, similar to those you might expect to stand up for you in a time of trouble, denied he even knew Jesus--Peter, of course. In fact, almost all of Jesus' friends deserted him. The high priest, Caiaphas, listened to conflicting false testimony, then questioned Jesus twisting his words and turning them against him to convict him. Pilate and Herod, men in positions of power, both understood from the evidence that Jesus was innocent, but neither was willing to rule against the wishes of the jeering mob. So with no credible evidence, Jesus received a sentence of capital punishment.

Then, our preacher carefully traced the misdeeds of those who contributed to this injustice--Judas, Peter, and members of that justice system--Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod. The congregation, including numerous ex-convicts and their families along with our usual congregation of middle class and upper middle class white families, responded on cue, in unison, and loudly, "Guilty" after the announcement from the pulpit of each individual name: "Judas." "Guilty." "Peter." "Guilty." "Caiaphas." "Guilty." "Pilate." "Guilty." "Herod." "Guilty."

You know the end of this "micronarrative." The ex-convict was not comparing himself to Jesus, nor am I comparing our defendants to Jesus. The preacher did not claim to be innocent; in fact, he did not relate any of the facts leading up to his incarceration at all. But he completely understood the potential flaws in the justice system: false accusations, conviction based on the testimony of one, yes only one, witness, the disappearance or withholding of exculpatory evidence, legally compromised witnesses trying to use a defendant to save themselves, prosecutors focused not on justice but on winning a conviction at any cost. Oh yes, he was well aware of those problems.

I may have been the only congregant using the Duke LAX case as a subtext. But, for a time, it seemed to me, we listeners were united in our understanding of injustice. And I can also tell you this. The sermon ended with a song entitled, "Someday Soon I am Going to See the King." It must have been an old spiritual. I had never heard it, but all the blacks knew the song very well. The words and melody were easy and uplifting, and we all enjoyed singing it together. If my white, relatively well to do congregation of families of the "Frozen Chosen" can unite with black, poor ex-convict evangelicals and their families in an hour of powerful mutual understanding of a deeply flawed justice system....anything is possible. Amen.

Yes, I am angry when a representative of the state can lie and lie with impunity, and not face real consequences for it, or at least not face the consequences that others have to face.

If you support that -- and I suppose that you do -- then I suspect you and I have nothing to discuss. Think of the damage that one lie brings, and why we are in this situation in the first place.

By the way, also think of the resources that it has taken to dislodge this one lie told by a small number of people. All of the resources that could have gone elsewhere, but they go here because people like the previous poster support lies that come from official places.

Last week I sent Prof. Joyner the article by William L. Anderson titled Racial Diversity and Elite Educational Institutions: Duke's Meltdown. In reply, Joyner wrote:

Mr. Talley:Thank you for the article. It presents a typical opinion. It was not sent to me, thus I missed it.Irv Joyner

Intrigued by what Joyner meant by "typical" I wrote him again:

Dear Professor Joyner:

Thank you for your reply, in which you suggest Professor Anderson's opinion is "typical". May I ask, sir, typical in what sense? Is it the typical opinion of those in and outside of academia that see little merit in programs dedicated to engendering a culture of aggrievement? If not, perhaps you will enlighten me, sir, about what makes Professor Anderson's opinion typical.

Best regards,

his reply:

Mr. Talley:Again, I thank you for the article which you sent to me. I do not have an interest in getting into a debate about the article or the response which I sent to you.Irv Joyner

One defense for an indefensable position is to offer not defense at all.

Joyner's ultimate fate, like Phillip Nolan in Hale's "The Man Without a Country", is well described by these lines from Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the last minstrel":

High though his titles, proud his name,Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;Despite those titles, power, and pelf,The wretch, concentred all in self,Living, shall forfeit fair renown,And, doubly dying, shall go downTo the vile dust, from whence he sprung,Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.

Has a recent audit been conducted on their circulation numbers? Given their liberties with how they present and omit facts wouldn't it be ironic if the H-S, et al also overstated numbers like the Dallas Morning News did a couple of years ago?

http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3836

The general trend nationally has been a radical drop, so one cannot blame this incident alone. On the other hand the news people are quick to blame the Internet, when it may be something as simple as the content and quality of the presentation.

Stevenson writes "However, Nifong dropped the rape charges last month after the woman changed her story."

One not familiar with the chronology and details of the case might infer that this was the first (and only) time Crystal had changed her story.

Actually, however, as those of us who have kept up with the story know, Crystal has provided several versions of many of the details -- number and the physical descriptions of the "rape" participants, acts committed, timeline of what happened before, during, and after the "rape", and on and on. In fact, she has told so many versions that anyone with a room temperature IQ knows she is lying.

Stevenson compounds these lies with his biased stance in every story he has written about this incident. He and Bob Ashley should be ashamed of the product they are putting out. In the company I work for, people who perform so poorly are fired.

You should contact the assistant DAs directly and ask them what ethical basis they have to continue employment in a corrupt organization. They are not conscripts. Their mass resignation would have endded this farce months ago. The fax number is (919) 560-3220. Don't send anonymous or threatening faxes.

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About Me

I am from Higgins Beach, in Scarborough, Maine, six miles south of Portland. After spending five years as track announcer at Scarborough Downs, I left to study fulltime in graduate school, where my advisor was Akira Iriye. I have a B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard, and an M.A. from the University of Chicago. At Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, I teach classes in 20th century US political, constitutional, and diplomatic history; in 2007-8, I was Fulbright Distinguished Chair for the Humanities at Tel Aviv University.

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"From the Scottsboro Boys to Clarence Gideon, some of the most memorable legal narratives have been tales of the wrongly accused. Now “Until Proven Innocent,” a new book about the false allegations of rape against three Duke lacrosse players, can join these galvanizing cautionary tales . . , Taylor and Johnson have made a gripping contribution to the literature of the wrongly accused. They remind us of the importance of constitutional checks on prosecutorial abuse. And they emphasize the lesson that Duke callously advised its own students to ignore: if you’re unjustly suspected of any crime, immediately call the best lawyer you can afford."--Jeffrey Rosen, New York Times Book Review